Wet weather hits Café Rouge

The recent wet weather has impacted on Tragus' Café Rouge restaurant chain more than the rest of its portfolio, the group revealed today.

Privately-owned Tragus, which owns Café Rouge and the recently acquired Strada chain, said overall group sales in 2007 rose nearly 15 per cent.

But with many of Café Rouge's 95 sites featuring terraced seating, it said it saw a "better performance" from its Strada and Bella Italia chains, which are less dependent on external seating.

The group said total turnover for the year to May 27 2007 grew 14.8 per cent to £148.7m.

Like-for-like sales rose 9.7 per cent, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew 28 per cent to £28.2m.

Average like-for-like site EBITDA grew 19.9 per cent to £238,000 last year.

Graham Turner, Tragus' chief executive, said: "This has been a year of considerable progress for us, with strong performance in our Café Rouge and Bella Italia brands and the exciting recent acquisition of Strada.

"Additionally, we have successfully transitioned to ownership under Blackstone, which will provide new opportunities for the group.

"We are looking forward to growing the Strada and Cafe Rouge brands across the UK and, additionally, we are pleased to be working with both BAA and Center Parcs to enhance our portfolio and build on the success of our brands."

Tragus recently announced it is to roll out a new restaurant/bar brand, Huxleys Bar & Kitchen, starting with a site at Heathrow's new fifth terminal, plus the group is set to open nine new restaurants in four Center Parc sites.